People shouldn't be bought or sold...

I just finished listening to a sermon by Steve Chalke and it spurred me to action. It was thought provoking, humbling and my eyes were opened to a great responsibility I have as a Christian. Every 30 seconds one person is trafficked somewhere in the world and an estimated 17,500 children were trafficked into the US last year for sex purposes. I've also read two books in the past year which educated me about modern day slavery (I know what you are thinking...didn't we handle slavery like 100 years ago?), "Ana's Story" by Jenna Bush and "Be the Change" by Zach Hunter.

I, like most of you reading this, live in the US, in a nice and safe neighborhood under the "picket fence" mentality. I travel all over the nation and run into people who I would consider to be underprivileged on occasion (like on my way to the Braves game in Atlanta or while shopping in NYC). I watch Fox news from time to time, I read the headlines (if they look interesting) when they pop-up on my Comcast account as I check my e-mail to see who has written on my Facebook wall and overall, I'm pretty up-to-date on the current events. I've never once seen or read anything on the news about a human trafficking case or raid and I wonder how something so astonishing could go unnoticed. As I listened to the message today, it suddenly dawned on me that we, as a country, are content with what the news media feeds us and, in all honesty, we would rather not hear all the "real" issues that surround us. My mind is totally blown! I don't want to live a petty life, oblivious to people hurting and in need around me. 

If "the church is not a building, it's people", and I believe this is true, then it is not the governments responsibility to take action, it is the churches duty! I hope you will check it out Steve Chalke's message on I-tunes under podcasts for Mars Hill Bible Church "Stop the Traffik". You can also check out Stop the Traffik for more information and to get involved.